The point is that we heard from our witnesses--you weren't here at the last meeting, but I think Dr. Rouleau also mentioned it--that what they're looking for is somebody from the private sector who is as up to date as possible. My understanding of that--and with other countries, but also with some of our provinces that look at boards like this--is to have somebody who is employed with a private company. That's the type of person they're looking for because they want the most up-to-date thinking of industry.
To comment on my colleague Dr. Bennett's comments, I certainly agree with her that there probably are other Canadians who can do this job and probably accept an appointment like this, but it's hypothetical that anybody we bring forward wouldn't get the exact same... There would be people against that appointment too. There can be all kinds of reasons for that. From what I've seen of Dr. Prigent, his qualifications, which are what we're supposed to be looking at here--we're not supposed to be looking at who he works for or who he doesn't work for--are excellent, and with the decisions and how the council functions, any of this extraneous stuff shouldn't be of any concern.
